Grant: Operating Grant

PROBLEM. Recently, we have seen an explosion of research on the human papillomavirus (HPV) as well as on HPV vaccination (HPVV) in various countries. HPVV campaigns have stirred debates on the link between HPV and cervical cancer as well as on HPVV safety, effectiveness, cost, and ethics. Despite serious concerns, little is known about HPVV in Canada. It may be that youth are insufficiently informed about HPVV and the need for preventative sexual health practices (e.g., regular Pap smears, condom use) to prevent sexually transmitted infections, in which case, the expected HPVV health gains would turn to health losses. At the moment, however, there is no research on how Canadian youth experience HPVV. OBJECTIVES. Our project aims to document the deployment of HPVV discourses in Canada and its impact on Canadian youth. With regards to HPVV discourses, our objective is to examine how they are deployed, disseminated, understood, taken up and/or resisted across home, school, media and health spaces. With regard to youth, we aim to investigate their experiences of HPVV and to deepen our understanding of how they make sense, negotiate or resist HPVV discourses. METHOD. In Facet I of the project, we will draw on ethnographies to interrogate how HPVV discourses are deployed in home, school, and health-related spaces in 4 provinces (QC, ON, MB, BC). We will also content-analyse various electronic media, paying attention to Canadian messaging about HPVV. In Facet II, we will use photo-voice, drawing, and focus group methods with 12-16 years old male and female students. We will also interview parents, teachers, and health professionals. The total sample (N=170 participants) will be diverse in terms of sex/gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, dis/ability, class, and rural/urban status. We will favour poststructuralist methods for our ethnographies and for the analysis of the "texts" (photographs, drawings, interview transcripts, policy materials) we collect.